Apple introduced a new sign language interpretation feature on Friday, alongside the premiere of the Apple TV movie Being Heumann.
The feature, designed with native signers, offers a visual of a person on the screen. Rather than replacing captions as an accessibility option, Apple is offering another function to improve users’ viewing experience through American Sign Language and British Sign Language.
People in the Deaf community have cited inability to get the full experience of watching shows and movies due to captions that lack descriptions of tone and mood. Poorly timed captions can throw off an entire episode or movie, and incorrect language can alter the understanding of a conversation.
The new feature goes hand in hand with the 2026 biographical drama directed by Sian Heder based on the memoir Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist by its namesake Judith Heumann with writer Kristen Joiner.
Starring Mark Ruffalo and Dylan O’Brien, and Ruth Madeley as Heumann, the film debuted in select theaters on November 6 and was released for streaming on Apple TV today.
A 2021 Census Bureau presentation discussed the difficulty of collecting accurate ASL-user statistics through traditional household language surveys. The Deaf community is often undercounted in national data, making it harder to measure accessibility needs.
Apple Originals have led the industry in providing accessibility features, such as Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and Audio Description for blind and low-vision audiences, in multiple languages, worldwide.
For its new feature, Apple created each interpretation with a DASL (director of artistic sign language) and an interpreter. They worked together in a studio to create high-quality sign language, capturing the tone and emotional intensity of each film being interpreted.
“I’m proud to have been part of Being Heumann and thrilled to see Apple TV supporting greater accessibility for Deaf audiences,” said Daniel Durant, who appears in the movie and also directed the film’s sign language interpretation.